Egypt's ruling party is still out of touch, oblivious to the demands and opposed to the rights of the people, writes Khalil El-Anani* The National Democratic Party (NDP) will hold its fifth annual congress 1 November. The slogan the NDP chose for this congress, "A New Thinking for the Country's Future", offers no clue as to what it intends to do. Most likely, the congress would be a rehash of the same things the NDP discussed in previous gatherings -- education, health, housing and the like. The NDP has a knack for keeping economic growth going and foreign investors motivated. But it doesn't seem to be able to address other vital issues, including the orientation of the economy. This is a crucial issue not only because of the current international financial crisis, but because the deregulation policies of the market- oriented "New Guard" within the NDP has wreaked havoc on the majority of the population. Ordinary citizens cannot care less whether the economy is growing at 7.5 per cent or whether the country is getting $14 billion in foreign direct investment. The public suspects that the sole beneficiaries of the current situation are a select group of businessmen -- those that finance the NDP and go on to exploit their power. In a country where 40 per cent of the population live under the poverty line, and two million live in randomly built urban areas, the ruling party has some explaining to do. The recent fires that swept the country have also cast a shadow. The Shura Council fire may have grabbed the headlines, but there were others just as serious, in factories, government establishments and cultural facilities. The reputation of the government was also hit with a wave of scandals involving NDP officials. Now the NDP is saying all the right things about poverty and the need for social development, but few are willing to believe it. Decentralisation is another thorny issue. Recent constitutional amendments call for more decentralisation to be introduced once Law 43/ 1979 is amended. But the NDP hasn't taken any action so far. Nor has it discussed the exact pattern of decentralisation, such as the budgets, finance and powers that need to be given to the governorates. Another thing is democratisation. Instead of moving ahead with political reform, Egypt has relapsed into its old ways. The NDP gave its rivals no chance in the April 2008 local elections. And it has done nothing to rescind some of the country's worst laws: the political parties law, the practice of political rights law, etc. The NDP is not holding any substantial debate with the opposition on such matters. With four chief editors on trial and Muslim Brotherhood leaders slammed with up to 10 years in prison, any claims of freedom of speech sound hollow. The 6 April demonstrations were repressed and there are rumours of more restrictions to come on the media. A draft law on terror is expected to deal a further blow to constitutional rights and freedoms. The NDP "Old Guard" is back in force. The once unquestioned ascendance of the New Guard has been shaken, especially after the government's failure in dealing with a spate of disasters -- from fires in public buildings to the collapse of the Moqattam hills, to the scandals of corruption and monopoly. Now it seems that the NDP is divided, with some members drifting to the right and others turning left. In recent parliamentary debates, some NDP members criticised the government's performance, even denouncing the "brutality" of its privatisation policies. Some NDP optimists spoke of a membership totalling three million this year. Their hopes may be justified or not. But what is clear is that people join the NDP only to advance their bureaucratic career, defend their business interests, or gain any number of favours. Few if any join the NDP out of dedication to its ideology or admiration for its principles. The NDP is trying to ignore the matter of presidential succession, but for how long? What would its leaders do in the event of an urgent transfer of power? With public discontent at its current level, one would doubt that things would go as smoothly as the NDP hopes for. Although the economy may be doing well, the NDP is having trouble rallying the public behind its vision. One reason for that is that the New Guard is trying to rule the country in the outdated fashion; namely, by seeking loyalty without offering any political concessions. This attitude is disastrous to say the least. The public wants to be part of the political game. It is tired of being taken for granted. With two-thirds of the country under 30, young people want to be politically included. They have made that much clear through their engagements in various protests for the past few months. One group, calling itself the "6 April Youths", called for a general strike to protest against government policies three months ago. The young are not going to play to the NDP's tunes. They have their own agenda. This much they have made clear in their postings on the Internet, Facebook, and various blogs. A political movement is taking shape, albeit in virtual space. There, where no monopoly or make-believe parties exist, energy is amassing. It is only a matter of time before this energy spills over into the actual world. The current economic policies are bound to create a bourgeois class in the country within the next decade or so. This new class is likely to act as an engine for change. It happened before, in East Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia. Egypt cannot be stuck forever in limbo between authoritarianism and democracy. What Egypt needs is more than a patch on its political mantle; it needs out of the transitional phase. It needs renewed confidence -- for citizen and country alike. * The writer is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, Washington, DC.
